Developing a Scale to Assess Emotional Intelligence in the Context of Driving

Traffic fatalities have been identified as an important public health issue, and human factors have been shown to be a significant contributor to road crashes. Previous research has confirmed the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and dangerous driving behaviors. However, most of the emotional intelligence measures used in the driving context were designed to measure general EI, not specific to driving. Therefore, this study aimed to develop and validate a Drivers’ Emotional Intelligence Scale (DEIS). The DEIS scale developed consists of 29 items that generate a total driver’s EI score and three subscales labeled as emotionality, confidence, and anxiety. Psychometric properties showed the scale to be valid and reliable. Furthermore, predictive validity confirmed that the DEIS subscales have significant correlations with driving behaviors and related outcomes such as crashes and citations. The emotionality subscale was the most significant predictor of risky, aggressive, and emotional driving. Therefore, this study suggests emotionality as the short form of Drivers’ Emotional Intelligence (DEIS-SF). Future research and recommendations are discussed